Selling An Ad Platform For Mobile Apps, Appwiz Raises $1.4 Million

0

Pitching an advertising platform targeting mobile application developers has netted the startup company Appwiz $1.4 million in new financing.

The company was founded in the summer of 2012 as a software development kit for Android developers, according to chief executive officer Yariv Ron. But as Ron and his team were developing their technology, they realized that there was a monetization hurdle that most app developers were never able overcome — they didn’t actually make any money.

So Ron and his team set out to find a way to help application developers get dollars in the bank. Their technology was convincing enough to get a $1.4 million commitment from the early stage Israeli investment firm Magma Venture Partners.

“We see that 25% to 30% of all traffic from a web site is accessed via mobile devices,but only a small percentage of revenue is coming from mobile devices,” Ron says.

What Appwiz is selling is a an ad delivery service akin to the ones on offer from Outbrain and Apigee . “There’s a challenge for the app developer to distribute their apps,” says Ron. “We’re giving them the ability to deliver ads. We’re giving them the ability to bid and target specific mobile websites that are relevant for their apps.”

Publishers using Appwiz provide their mobile web visitors a unique advertisement that provides them with suggestions for apps to download from a central iOS or Android store based on the content available on the website and user browsing habits.

The Tel Aviv-based company is set to open a New York office within the month as it looks to build up connections with publishers and media contacts in the U.S. “What we’re doing these days is to close with as many web publishers as possible,” Ron says. “We will then turn to app developers and tell them they’re able to target a specific readership.”